Baraka_Guru

I don't think this is the place to discuss this in length, but do you realize that you have suggested here that Zemeckis' Beowulf deserves to replace the original? More meaningful? I haven't seen the movie yet, so maybe it is why I find this hard to believe. I think you'd have a hard time convincing most people who understand both film and literature that this film is better at capturing a strong sense of lyric, dark comedy, and tragedy. Sure, we can say the Greeks had a much stronger grasp of these things, but is Zemeckis really that good? To be that good, he'd have to be a commanding translator of Old English and a filmmaker who is capable of drawing attention to these elements without distracting his audience with 3-D flash.

We need to ask this of Zemeckis:

• Was he sensitive to certain elements of the original text when coming up with the script, such as its alliterative qualities?
• Did he enrich the themes, or did he drop some or downplay them?
• Did he make the characters come alive, or are they wooden despite their shiny look?
• Does he handle hero mythology properly, or is this simply an action film?

For the film to be more meaningful than the original, it would need to pass these questions and more. As I mentioned, Beowulf can't really be compared to Greek drama, nor should it be. It is a hero myth. Mythological epics aren't the same as drama, as understood by the Greeks. This is how the poem is viewed. Zemeckis' film is probably more interesting by virtue of its visuals and action, but I seriously doubt it would surpass the interest from a literary or artistic standpoint.

The meaning you mention might be subjective, which is fine, but when we approach literature (and film, even), it is often of benefit to step outside of our own experiences and understanding of the world and view something as though we have come across it in a living state after having stepped through a time machine.

We might view Beowulf as one-dimensional, but the same can be said of many mythologies. The limitations of the oral tradition plays a part in this, but the structure and inner workings of myth play bigger roles. Think of the function of myth: it tells simple stories of where we came from and how things had come to be. These are stories that are meant to be instructive and highly memorable (i.e. memorized). Let's not forget the source when we are looking at its reinterpretations, no matter how good or bad.

I suppose I really need to see the film before I have a clear idea of what we're talking about, but you get the idea.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot